“A massive public relations firm, Zeno, is privately advising its high-profile corporate clients to avoid commenting on the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade,” according to Popular Information.
“Zeno is also a subsidiary of Edelman, the world’s largest public relations conglomerate.”
“Elon Musk’s decision to accept some foreign investors as part of his $44 billion buyout of Twitter runs the risk of inviting the kind of regulatory scrutiny over U.S. national security that social media peer TikTok faced,” Reuters reports.
Dan Pfieffer: “The Republicans are in the driver’s seat despite pushing one of the most unpopular, extreme agendas in modern political history. For all the handwringing about how Democrats can win the culture wars, it’s the Republicans who should fear a high-profile conflict on those cultural issues.”
“And it’s not just the ‘culture war’ issues where Republicans are off base. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stated that one of his first acts as Speaker would be to shut down the investigation into the January 6th insurrection, but that investigation is supported by two-thirds of Americans.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told a group of Covid vaccine critics that he’s in a “guerrilla war” against the medical establishment, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Said Johnson: “I need every guerrilla fighting this guerrilla war right now. Don’t get out ahead of what the public is willing to accept as truth.”
New York Times: “In October 2019, after members of the national security team assembled in the Situation Room to watch a feed of the raid that killed the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Stephen Miller proposed securing Mr. al-Baghdadi’s head, dipping it in pig’s blood and parading it around to warn other terrorists, Mr. Esper writes. That would be a ‘war crime,’ Mr. Esper shot “back.”
“Mr. Miller flatly denied the episode and called Mr. Esper ‘a moron.'”
“Billionaire Ken Griffin has upped his investment in Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin’s Republican bid for governor, kicking in an additional $25 million to the campaign after seeding Irvin’s candidacy with an initial $20 million,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
“By doubling his financial commitment to Irvin, Griffin appears to be showing confidence in a campaign strategy that has been high in the use of TV ads and mailers while low in public contact and visibility.”
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in a letter to her colleagues Friday morning the chamber will vote on legislation that would allow Capitol Hill staffers to unionize next week, a major development for labor activists who have pushed for the option for years,” CNN reports.
“While it’s unlikely the Senate will be able to pass similar legislation because of the 60-vote threshold needed to break the filibuster and the lack of Republican support, the expected-House passage of the bill would mean it would go into effect in the chamber because of the Congressional Accountability Act.”
“Abortion bans set to take effect if Roe v. Wade is overturned could mean lengthy prison sentences for people who have an abortion, the physicians who perform them or those who help people access the procedure,” Politico reports.
“The penalties vary widely by state, and also can include hefty fines or the suspension of a medical license.”
“Even as national Republican leaders, many of whom have worked for decades to outlaw abortion, dismiss fears of prosecutions, state lawmakers have already enacted mandatory minimum sentences that would go into effect if Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion is handed down.”
Michelle Goldberg: The death of Roe is going to tear America apart.
Andy Borowitz: “In a public appeal for help, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has asked if ‘anyone has seen’ a briefcase he accidentally left at a bar late last week.”
Donald Trump has a new and rambling robocall for Rep. Jody Hice (R) in the race for Georgia Secretary of State, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
The former president “goes on for more than a minute and a half, talking about himself, repeating disproven election conspiracies, and floating a new one.”
A sampling: “Hello, this is President Donald J. Trump, hopefully your all time favorite president of all time Georgia has one of the worst secretary of states in America, and I mean the worst, RINO Brad Raffensperger.”
“Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said that his political party will seek to audit the electronic voting system before the upcoming election amid concerns he is actively sowing distrust in its eventual results,” the AP reports.
Boris Johnson has admitted the Tories suffered a “tough night in some parts of the country” at the local elections after the Conservative Party lost control of three key London councils, the Telegraph reports.
Rudy Giuliani backed out of an interview slated for Friday with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot after being told he couldn’t record it, CNN reports.
“The U.S. economy added slightly more jobs than expected in April amid an increasingly tight labor market and despite surging inflation and fears of a growth slowdown,” CNBC reports.
“The unemployment rate was 3.6%, slightly higher than the estimate for 3.5%.”
“In an effort to address rising crime rates, 19 mostly moderate House Democrats are urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold a vote soon on bipartisan legislation that would increase funding for police departments across the country,” NBC News reports.
“The letter is the latest sign that Democrats, fighting to preserve their fragile majority this fall, are concerned about rising crime and the ‘defund the police’ messaging from progressives that contributed to the party’s loss of 13 House seats in the 2020 election.”
“Today, former president Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Pennsylvania with celebrity doctor and GOP Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz,” the Washington Post reports.
“Among the things we’ll be watching: What, if anything, Trump has to say about abortion. Trump, who appointed three of the conservative Supreme Court justices who appear on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade, has been largely silent on the subject.”
Politico: “The former president, never one to shy away from taking credit for accomplishments, real or imagined, has yet to crow about the majority draft opinion. And when asked about it in interviews, he steered clear of anything resembling a victory lap. Instead, he expressed displeasure that the draft leaked and sidestepped weighing in on the issue of abortion rights.”
USA Today: Republicans spent years attacking Roe v. Wade. Now they want to avoid discussing abortion.
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi will announce this morning that she’s setting a minimum salary for House staffers, a gigantic boon for a workforce that historically has been underpaid and overworked,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The new minimum annual salary for staffers is $45,000. It goes into effect on Sept. 1.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.